It is the first day of Spring and the world is blooming. The trees and flowers are flourishing in all their splendor. The world is awash with color. To me, it is glorious!

It is my love of using color to make life flow smoother that lead me to create the COLORganization System. This method of organizing is simple and easy. The only guidelines to follow are to be creative, have fun, and see how many areas of your life can be organized through color.

My passion of color-coding came out when my daughters were young and I was looking for a way to easily identify what belonged to each girl. Their colors, purple and pink, were based on their favorite colors at that time. My husband and I joined in the fun; he picked orange and I went with a darker purple or turquoise. Years later we still keep to these colors as much as we can.

I purchased baskets in the appropriate colors and various sizes and put them around the house. These baskets hold papers or items to be brought into another area of the house. They identify who owns and is responsible for the stuff contained inside.

We continue this family tradition even though the girls are older and the need is not as great. My husband has more orange things than I even realized were produced. I am personally surrounded by a lot of purple and turquoise. The girls have their color-coded items as well and have expanded their color choices as tastes and styles change.

COLORganization can also be applied to calendars and personal organizers. Color markers can be used for hardcopy versions, while most software has options to highlight in color. Outlook has a wonderful color-coding system under “categories” for email and calendar appointments. Gmail has color settings for their “labels”. Word and Excel have font and text highlighting colors.

Being that this is the first day of Spring, you will soon be exchanging the seasonal clothes in your closet. Take this opportunity to do some color organizing. Storage bins now come in a myriad of colors and varying degrees of opaqueness. For instance, my holiday ornaments and lights are kept in a red bin with a green top. The stores are now carrying bins in pastel colors – good for storing your Spring ornaments as well as your warmer weather clothes in the Fall.

This time of year brings tax season as well. After you have compiled your documents and receipts, look at the rest of your files. Are they overstuffed and full of outdated materials? An easy way to organize them is through color-coding. You can use colored file folders or create colorful labels. I use green for bank statements, orange for credit card statements and receipts, yellow for medical, blue for my business files, and purple for outstanding items and information for family activities.

As a family, another area we applied COLORganization to is our to entertainment center. We put small, colored dots on the spine of CD covers based on music style. Picking an album based on the type of music is quick and easy. This can be done with DVDs and VHS tapes as well.

The key here is to use whatever you works for you and your family. The cost of implementing a color-coding system is as small or as great as you want. Use whatever colors have meaning to you and don’t be concerned with conventional associations of color (i.e. green = money). Go have fun and make your life a colorful one!

Use the COLORganization Systemto help you create a smoother life and find things quickly and easily.

1.Be creative, have fun, and see how many areas of your life can be organized through color.

2.Have each family member pick their first and second favorite color. These colors need to be different than everyone else’s to eliminate overlap and avoid confusion.

3.Purchase or label storage bins in all sizes for each person with their color.

4.Update your filing system with color folders or labels.

5.Remember, use the colors that you want. There are no right or wrong colors to associate with files, storage bins, or identification systems.

So far March has come in like a lion. Tornados, wind storms, snow blizzards, oh my! March is living up to its reputation.

I lived through the New York blackouts in 1964 and 1977, the Great Buffalo Blizzard of 1977, and the after-effects of Hurricane Andrew in South Florida (1992). In the Atlanta area, I have experienced the floods in 2009, the major snow storm in 2011, and the after-effects of tornados. Like many of you, I have lived through these and other disasters.

It does not matter if they are natural or man-made, they impact us all. Whether we’re talking about 9/11 or last week’s tornados and snow storms, we are touched by the suffering and determination of others. Many people have lost loved ones during these events. Many others have lost their normalness of everyday life along with homes, property, and peace-of-mind. My heart goes out to all of them.

How prepared are you when faced with a personal emergency?

Being prepared is key to getting back to your normal life with peace-of-mind. Put together an emergency kit and supplies. The contents will vary with your location. What you need in Florida for hurricanes will be different than what you need in Buffalo for blizzards. There are many resources available online and in print to guide you. Look up ones for your specific area. Check out the NOAA, FEMA, Red Cross, local emergency services and governments for guides and checklists.

Recently, I put together personal records for my family as well as the emergency water, food, and supplies. I created spreadsheets with the medical histories for myself, my husband, my daughters, and the dog. I gathered our medical directives, wills, legal documents, important insurance information, and phone numbers of people to be notified. I call this our "personal vitals kit". All the information is in one place and can be accessed immediately when needed. No searching at the last minute or worrying if the papers were destroyed.

Another option is to have all this information available electronically. You can scan the documents into computer and keep a backup off-site. If you do not have a good, reliable backup system, there are services that can backup and keep your data for a fee.

While March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb. When faced with an emergency situation, here are some actions you can take so your life is more like a lamb than a lion when it comes to personal recovery.

1.Put together an emergency kit based on the needs of your family and location.

2.Agree on a meeting place in case family members get separated.

3.Create a “personal vitals kit” for your family. Gather and keep all important documents together.

There is a lot in the media nowadays about procrastination and distractions – the types and kinds and whys – and how they hinder productivity, relationship closeness, common courtesy, and on and on and on. And yet, I will tell you one my little secrets, so ingrained in me that I was barely aware of […]

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